Alarm attachment for tills



UNITEDA sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

E. B. WHITE, OF NASHUA, NEXV HAMPSHIRE.

ALARM ATTACHMENT FOR TILLS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 24,685, dated July 5, 1859.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, E. B. XVI-rire, of Nashua, in the county of Hillsboro and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and Improved Alarm Attachment for Tills; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is a vertical section of my invention applied to a till, m, Fig. 3, indicating the pla-ne of section. Fig. 2, a vertical se?n tion of ditto, taken in the line i, y, Fig. c.

Fig. 3, a plan or top view of ditto. Fig.

4, a detached plan view of the bell-striking mechanism.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a series of bolts placed within a hinged plate which is connected with a bell-striking mechanism and arranged with keys, substantially asv hereinafter described, whereby a person unacquainted with the position of the parts cannot open the drawer or till without sounding an alarm, the parts admitting of change or permutation, so that if their position should casually become known to others than the proper persons, they may with the greatest facility be so arranged as to cause different keys to be act-ed upon in order that the till or drawer ,may be opened without actuating the bell-striking mechanism.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A, represents a till or drawer which may V be of usual construction, and B, is a metal case or boX which may be of rectangular form and of any suitable size attached to the inner side of the front board a, of the drawer at about its center.

The front or outer side of the box B, is formed of a plate Z), the lower part of which is attached to the boX by a joint c, which may be formed of a rod passing through eyes attached to the boX and plate. The plate b, is cast with a series of vertical sockets d, at its inner sidefour are represented in Fig. 3, but more or less may be used. In each socket d, a bolt C, is placed and allowed to slide freely. Each bolt resting on a spiral spring e, which has a tendency to keep it elevated and behind ametal ledge or stop D, attached to the board or plate f, above the drawer as shown clearly in Fig. l.

\ The upper part of the bolt plate b, at one end is attached by a link g, to a lever it, which has its` fulcrum at z', as shown clearly in Fig. 2. To this lever 7L, one end of a bar j, is attached. This har .7', is equal in length to the bolt plate b, and has an arm `on its opposite end which is litted on a rod which forms the fulcrum z', of the lever h.

On the rodi, a series of keys c, are fit-ted. The lower ends of these keys project below the bottom of the drawer through an opening Z, therein. The upper parts c, of the keys lo, are at right angles to the lower parts and each part 7.2, projects over a lateral projection m, attached to each bolt C. Each projection m has a notch n, made in it as shown clearly in Figs. l and 2. The use of these notches will be presently explained.

In the lower part of the box B, at one side, a plate 0, is fitted loosely on a pintle y), This plate o, has a pin g, projecting from one side of it-directly behind the lower end of the lever h, as shown clearly in Fig. 2, and a spiral spring r, is attached to the plate 0, and also two bell hammers E, E, byvrods s, s. y j

F, is a bell which is attached to the bottom of the till or drawer, the hammers E, E, being within it.

Within the box B, a socket t, is placed or formed. This socket contains a spiral spring u, on which a plunger o, rests the bar j, bearing on said plunger. See Fig. l.

On the upper part of the box B, a sliding plate G, is placed. This plate has a ledge w, on its upper surface and a spiral spring a', bears against a pendent b', at its under side, said spring having a tendency to keep the plate G, over the top of the bolt plate b, as shown in Fig. 2. Behind each key 7c, a spiral spring c', is placed.

From the above description it will be seen that whent-he till or drawer A, is closedthe bolts C, would all be forced up behind the ledge or stop D, by the springs e, if not retained in downward position and consequently if the till or drawer A, should be pulled outward the bolt plate would also be forced outward and the lever 7L, would actuate the plate 0, and consequently the bell hammers E, E, would strikethe bell by the action of the spring r, and sound an alarm. In this case therefore no person could open the till without sounding the bell, but in order to allowcertain persons to open the till wit-hout noise a certain number of the bolts are secured down by screws al', and through the upper part Q, of'each key 76, that is opposite a depressed bolt a screw e', passes, said screws bearing on the plate The parts c, 'of the keys opposite the bolts C', that are not retained in a downward position have their screws e', removed.

By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the bolts C, numbered 1 and 2 are not secured down as the screws e, of the parts le', of their keys are removed. Consequently by pressing outward with the fingers the lower ends of the keys 7c, that correspond with the bolts l, 2, said bolts will be depressed in consequence of the parts 7s', of said keys acting on their projections m, and the till or drawer may be opened or drawn outward without sounding the bell. A person however, even if having a knowledge of the mechanism of the device but ignorant as regards which bolts C, are secured down could not open the till without detection, for if a key c, be actuated that is not opposite or does not correspond with a bolt C, that is free or not secured down in its socket, the screw e', of said key will actuate the bar j, and consequently the lever 7i., and the bell will be sounded.

It will be seen that the device admits of a variety of changes as eivther of the bolts C, may be secured down, and any number of them. When one bolt C, is secured down or depressed, the device admits of four changes, with two bolts depressed. Six changes, with vthree bolts depressed, four changes and all the bolts free or loose constituting another change, fifteen changes in all with four bolts.

The plate Gr, is used to cover the'bolt plate Z9, bolts will be concealed. This is essential for if the bo-lts were exposed an observer might notice which bolts were secured down in the bolt plate and thereby be enabled to open the drawer without sounding the alarm. This plate G, is shoved back asthe till is closed in consequence of coming in contact with a ledge f', at the bottom of the stop D,

so that the free or loose bolts C, will not be prevented from rising. See Fig. l. The plate Gr, is thrown over by the spring a', as the till is opened.

The spring u,

when the t-ill is opened so that the f plate G, combined and arranged with the the top of the bolt plate b,

in the socket t, is used so that each key 7c, will offer the same resistance to the touch. This is essential for if the bar y', did not rest or bear on this spring a person might detect by the sense of feeling these keys which operate the free or loose bolts, as the latter keys depress the bolt and #the former would not have I springs c, any spring to resist their movement and would consequently move comparatively free. The employment ofthe spring u, in the socket t, effectually prevents any such result. The not-ches n, in the lateral projections m, serve to catch lthe ends of the upper part-s 7c', of the keys so that when the bolt plate Z), is moved outward in endeavorng to open the till, the keys 7c, are prevented from operating on the bolts and the device therefore cannot be tampered with but Inust be moved back to a closed 4state before another trial can be madeand consequently another alarm will be sounded if a second essay is made to open the till.

The screws cZ, are covered by a plate g", to conceal them for theV same reason that the bolts C, are concealed by the plate Gr.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

l. The boltplate provided wisth bolt-s C, connected by a joint c, to the box B, and connected to a bell-striking apparatus, substantially as shown in connectionwith the keys is, and a stop D, the whole being applied to the ftill substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with' the bolt` plate Y),

bolts C, and keys 7c, the bar j, and screws e',

in the parts of the keys, when the bolt plate and bar y', are both connected with the lever h, or to the bell-striking apparatus in any proper way. f

3. The employment or use of the sliding bolt plate b, and stop D, to operate automatically as and for 4the purpose set forth.

4:. 'The'.employment or use for the purpose speciiied of a supplemental spring u, fitted in a socket t, or otherwise arranged to resist the movement of the bar y', when said bar j, is used inconnection `wi th spring bolts C, substantially as described.

f E. B. WHITE.

Witnesses:

R. S. SPENCER, J. W. CooMBs. 

